RICHMOND, Va.—From the sound of it, Robert Griffin III lost the first couple of showdowns. He won’t take any live hitting in the Redskins’ training camp practices, and he won’t play in any preseason games.

In other words, six months isn’t quite enough to come back from two torn knee ligaments. However … are eight months really enough?

Based on Griffin’s training camp-opening, state-of-the-ACL press conference Wednesday, he and the Redskins will err on the side of caution and, as he repeated often, will be patient.

Yet, at the risk of parsing every syllable and vocal inflection of his 15-minute update at the team’s training camp headquarters, it sounds like he will be a handful to keep in check until the night of Monday, September 9.

That must be a little scary. Even if Griffin stays true to the game plan, it still puts his comeback—against the Philadelphia Eagles on national TV—just eight months to the day after Dr. James Andrews repaired his knee, and eight months and three days since the gruesome injury itself, at FedEx Field in the playoff game against Seattle.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being "Adrian Peterson," that’s an 11. Peterson’s return for last year’s regular-season opener—also with no preseason action and just a handful of contact drills—came eight months and 16 days after his injury.

On Wednesday, Griffin said all the right things and struck the right tone.

"Everybody’s on the same page," he said. It did sound, though, as if he had to be convinced to flip back to the page Andrews, Mike Shanahan and co. were on.

On seeing action before the regular season, he said "Maybe in the third preseason game—but as far as my understanding goes, preseason is not really in the air, is not a worry at all. I feel like I can play, and Coach feels like I can play, without any preseason. No need, really, for that."

His description of himself as an "overachiever" was illuminating, as well. It’s what has propelled most of the talk of his beating Peterson’s still-shocking pace. Having surpassed every expectation for what he would be capable of as a rookie, Griffin makes a compelling case for exceeding medical standards, too.

“Whether it’s Coach, the doctors, the decision for me to play Week 1—if they want me to be patient now and ramp it up later, then I’m wiling to do that,’’ he said. “They know that I’m gonna be—I don’t want to say ‘compliant,’ but I’ll follow those rules, follow those guidelines, do as much as I can within that, and when it’s time to go full-go, I’ll be ready to go."

Griffin also addressed the future (playing less recklessly to protect his longevity) and the past (everybody involved in the playoff fiasco is letting bygones be bygones).

But the present is plenty dangerous, too. Griffin wants to live there; it’s easy to see that even with his measured perspective Wednesday. The team needs him to see beyond that.

So maybe while watching his knee, the Redskins might want to watch Griffin’s arm—they might find themselves twisting it to keep him from rushing back into the fray before he’s ready.